Page One
Full page panel: First Appearance of Prof P. Foglio. I don't believe the female figure behind him is meant to be his wife Kaja. The sign in his bowl reads: "You pay it. We say it!" The sign behind Foglio reads: "Frogs 2p Sugar Frogs 5p Sugar Sans Frogs 20p". Winslow is at his feet. Winslow is a character that appears somewhere in nearly every comic Phil Foglio does. The sign pointing to Winslow reads: "Weird But Harmless". At the top of the panel it says: "Prologue".
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Panel One: Dr. Beetle is spoken of in the present tense. Apparently, it's not yet common knowledge that he's dead. Page Fifty Page Fifty One Page Fifty Two Page Fifty Three Page Fifty Four Page Fifty Five Page Fifty Six Page Fifty Seven Page Fifty Eight Page Fifty Nine Page Sixty Page Sixty One Page Sixty Two Page Sixty Three Page Sixty Four Page Sixty Five Page Sixty Six Page Sixty Seven Page Sixty Eight Page Sixty Nine Page Seventy Page Seventy One Page Seventy Two Page Seventy Three Page Seventy Four Page Seventy Five Page Seventy Six Page Seventy Seven Page Seventy Eight Page Seventy Nine Page Eighty Page Eighty One
Full page panel: First appearance of Agatha Clay (bottom center). Phil is still in the center of the panel, but now we've pulled back for the long view. First glance is a Victorian street scene until you notice the details. The legless man is riding in a bowl with legs, one of the horses pulling the wagon is mechanical, the man in lower left is wearing a funnel which emits smoke. The storefront is labeled: "Kaja", the name of Phil's wife. A sign reads: "Long live the tyrant".
Agatha Gets Mugged
Panel One: Two headed beggar's sign reads: "Can't agree on a hat"
Panel Two: If the Jagermonsters are supposed to protect the Baron, why is this one in town by himself?
Full page panel: First appearance of a Portal. Portal contains an unidentified female construct saying: "Like THAT?" Girl Genius fans have dubbed her "The Enigma".
Panel Two: Sign on wall reads: "Report all revenants immediately. Citizen Alert." This is the first mention of revenants.
Panel Three: Note small construct in lower right corner watching her fall.
Panel Five: First appearance of Moloch and Omar von Zinzer. They appear to be wearing brooches on their shoulders (signifying military?) Omar's right pant leg is missing the braid, but you can still see the stitch holes. Nice touch. His bottle reads: "??ata Mon?? Absynth" (Question marks are letters I can't make out.) Absinth is a now-illegal alcohol made from wormwood. The neutro toxins in the alcohol cause hallucinations. It would not have been illegal at the turn of the previous century. He's apparently wounded in his left leg.
Panel One: Sign behind Omar reads "Clanks -->". Moloch's bottle reads: "Old Electro Plate". Electroplating is the process of applying a metal coating to another material.
Panel Three: Agatha grabs Moloch's bottle...
Panel One: ... and uses it on Omar!
Panel One: First mention of The Big Jars, a form of capital punishment.
Panel Three: Agatha's brooch is stolen. This will be significant later.
A five panel sequence shows that without the brooch, Agatha has the Spark! Symptoms are megalomania followed by headaches.
Late for Class
Panel One: Lettering on wall reads: "Transylvania Polygnostic University -- Know Enough to be Afraid".
Panel Two: First appearance of the clank Mr. Tock. It apparently speaks in an Old English font. Agatha's student number is 8734195.
Panel Four: First appearance of The Big Jars, a form of capital punishment. A student's book title is: "Reanima-- Principa--". Note: A principal is the head of a school, I believe this should be "Principles". Kolok suggests that the title is possibly Latin, "Reanimanus Principata".
Panel One: The lettering on the building is too obstructed to read. "LAB 1 No ---"
Panel Two: First appearance of Dr. Hugo Glassvitch.
Panel Three: The keg he's about to drop reads: "Fragile". The iron railing has the Beetle brooch design.
Panel One: Jar is labeled: "3".
Panel Five: First appearance of a ding-bot clank. This one doesn't work.
Panel Five: The window has the Beetle brooch design. All of the windows in the lab have a beetle design worked into them. It's consistent throughout the books and I won't mention them again.
Panel Seven: First appearance of Dr. Silas Merlot.
Wulfenbach's Visit
Panel One: Equations on blackboard can't be read.
Panel Two: Pistons are labeled: "1" and "2".
Panel Three: First appearance of Carassius Auratus (the goldfish).
Panel Four: Door is labeled: "Storage".
No commentary.
Full page panel: First appearances of Dr. Tarsus, Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, Boris Vasily Konstantin Andrei Myshkin Dolokhov and Zudok, the Jagermonster Unit Commander. Note that both the clanks and the jagermonsters have both the Baron's brooch and the Jagermonster broach designs on their person. Boris has four arms, this is NOT a drawing mistake.
Panels One thru Three: Kolok notes that the Baron towers over most people. Constructs tend to be larger than most humans.
Panel Four: Dr. Beetle notices that Agatha's brooch is missing. This is significant.
No commentary.
Panel One: The waxworks is mentioned for the first time. This apparently a form of punishment. Capital punishment?
Panel Three: The Jagermonster states that if Gil does not pass the Baron's tests, the Baron will break him down for parts and try again. This implies that Gil may be a construct rather than a flesh and blood heir. Note that the Jagermonster's brooch now has a bat-winged tower.
Panel Four: The first appearance of the hum which indicates Agatha's spark at work.
Gil Chews the Scenery
Panels One thru Seven: Gil's spark also has a megalomania symptom.
Panel Eight: Closet is labeled: Storage. It is rumbling, indicating contents under pressure.
Panel Two: The storage closet is opened and a large assortment of tools, parts and notes come pouring out, including the goldfish bowl first seen on page fourteen. Gil will carry this goldfish bowl for the remainder of the issue. The anvil (upper right) and cactus plant (middle right) were not previously seen in the lab.
Panel One: The debris coming out of the closet includes the goldfish bowl, a book titled "How I Did It" which is a reference to the movie "Young Frankenstein", and a container labeled: "Phlogysten". Phlogiston is a hypothetical elastic fluid first proposed by Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of the oxygen atom, in 1796 to explain combustion. In short, something will stop burning when all the phlogiston has been combined with oxygen. If you could remove phlogiston from water, you'd get ice.
Panel Six: The vat is lettered with: "Do Not Open Until Xmas".
Merlot Goes Spare
No commentary.
Full page panel: The first appearance of a hive engine. The control panel reads: "Don't touch". Boris' book is titled: "11".
No commentary.
Double page panel -- Part One: This was originally published as a non-web comic book. Links to double page panels do not occur until the comic became a web comic.
Double page panel -- Part Two: Mr. Tock comes to Dr. Beetle's rescue. How was he summoned? Dr. Beetle is showing signs of megalomania.
Panel Two: Gil is still carrying the goldfish bowl from the storage closet
Panel One: Mr. Tock is destroyed.
Panel Three: The clanks are starting to say "Stand_!" when they are destroyed. Stand down?
Panel Two: The control panel is labeled: "The Switch(tm)". The switches are labeled "1", "2", "3".
Panel One: The Baron already knew what Dr. Beetle was up to, the obvious signs include the dramatic increase in the price of honey. Note that the window behind them is broken. This may be the one Agatha's clank went through as it exploded.
Panel Five: Dr. Beetles brooch is a bomb. Are the other two brooches bombs as well?
See comments about page thirty four.
Gil tosses the goldfish bowl up in the air, knocks the bomb back to Dr. Beetle and then catches the goldfish bowl and knocks Agatha to the floor. I vaguely recall a similar sequence in the Kung-Fu movie The Kid with the Golden Arm where the hero fights without putting down his jar of rice wine.
Panel Eight: Dr. Beetle is pronounced dead in the explosion. Baron Wulfenbach? asks about his head and is told it's totally destroyed. The Baron responds with "Gotterdammerung", the German word for the "Apocolypse", he's swearing.
Panel Ten: Kolok says 'The Baron notes that Dr. Beetle in not only dead, but is dead "permanently" because his head is destroyed. It would appear that the Baron still found Dr. Beetle useful and wanted to reanimate him.
Agatha has another Spark attack. A burst of megalomania followed by a headache.
Panel Six: The baron threatens to send Dr. Merlot to Castle Heterodyne as punishment. Slave labor? Torture?
No commentary.
Agatha Goes Home
No commentary.
Panel Eight: Agathas home is labeled: "Clay Mechanical".
Panel One: First appearance of Adam Clay. See note on next page about names.
Panel Two: First appearance of the Steam Engine. It will show up later as part of Agatha's first major clank. The fact that Adam's lifting a steam engine by himself without the use of pulleys is a major clue that he is not quite human.
Panel Four: Agatha says she can't think of anything that would make the day worse, apparently being crushed to death by a heavy machinery isn't on the list.
Panel Five: First appearance of Lilith Clay. A note on the names: According to the Christian Bible, God created Adam out of clay. According to Jewish Legend, Lilith was Adam's first wife, Eve was his second. This may be the source of the names for these two characters. The sign over the door reads "Private". There's a maul next to the door that no ordinary human could use.
Panel One: We see that Lilith's left eye is outsized. This is not a drawing mistake, she was created this way.
Panel Two: Adam drops the Steam Engine upon hearing the name "Wulfenbach" and the walls shake.
Panel One: Lilith notices Agatha's brooch is missing and she knows the significance of this.
Panel One: Adam shakes his head, No. Apparently, he can't talk.
Panel Seven: Lilith's glasses make her eyes look normal. This is not a drawing mistake.
Panel One: First appearance of Agatha's bedroom. A very cluttered scene, I may miss some things. Winslow is hanging from the ceiling along with a model dirigible. A six foot sunflower plant is mounted on the ceiling panel. The number sequence along the wall paper is the prime numbers between one and eighty. The window sill is labeled: "Carpe diem" which is Latin for "Seize the Day". Handprints by the bed are labeled 8, 10, and 13, but they're too low for those to be her age in years. Perhaps it's her age in weeks or months? The blanket has a border of 8's on it.
Panel Two: The prime number sequence continues, these are the primes 101, 103, 107.
Panel Three: Agatha undresses for bed. She shows up at the end of the book in this underwear.
Omar is Very Sick
No commentary.
Panel One: The Doctor's book is labeled: "Medical Log".
Panel Five: Omar von Zinzer is declared dead.
Panel Five: We learn that Agatha's brooch is a mechanism. A clank? A dingbot?
Panels One thru Five : Moloch thinks Agatha's brooch killed Omar. Did it? In any case, he thinks she "turned it on" to do so.
Panel Four: Moloch's beer is labeled: "Beetle Beer".
Panel Six: The brooch does say what Moloch says it says.
Panel Seven: Molochs room number is 7B. Wasn't that Seinfeld's apartment?
Agatha Wakes Up
Panel One: First appearance of Barry Heterodyne. The bottle is labeled: "Mom's Extra Robot Oil".
From Folenzo: "Mom's Extra Robot Oil", may be a reference to the TV show "Futurama", where this product is widely available. Also, note that "robot" is not used in this series, but "clank". "Robot" was coined in Karel Capek's 1920 play "R.U.R".
Panels One thru Three: A flashback to the first time Agatha hummed. Apparently Uncle Barry understands that Agatha's humming means she has the spark.
No commentary.
Full page panel: There is a bird's nest and a jug of moonshine in the rafters. The sign on the wall reads: "Turn Off All Devices". The spilled can reads: "Syrup of Lead". The oil can is labeled "Oil". The machine is labeled: "Electro Snorta Scope MK III". The store across the street is "Turnips R Us!" The hand-print on her right hip appears to be a right hand print.
The Baron Finds a Clank
Full page panel: Phil says it took three days to draw this and three days to color it. I believe it, there's an incredible amount of detail here. First appearance of Agatha's first major clank, formerly the steam engine we first saw in Adam's shop back in issue #2, page Forty-One. The building on the left has a mortar and pestle for a sign indicating that its an apothecary (what we would now call a drugstore). There's a beetle design on the sign. The awning reads: "nes leeches". The shop next stores sells pierogies, a Slavic dumpling with a filled center; usually meat, sauerkraut, cottage cheese, or fruit. On top of the buildings is a weathervane with a lightning bolt insignia, I would have expected a beetle. On the opposite side of the street, the Bank advertises it's licensed, but doesn't say for what. There's a stork nesting on the roof. In some European communities, that was considered a sign of good luck. The peddler in the street is apparently selling "Meats".
Panel One: The sign is partially obscured, but it reads: Pierogies. It's the shop sign we saw on the previous page. There's a menu posted on the wall, apparently listing what kind of pierogies they sell. The Baron is advancing up the street. Boris is drinking coffee and eating doughnuts, but no doughnut shop is visible.
Panel Three: Kolok notes: "Klaus pus his hand on the bridge of his nose in a gesture of annoyance. Notice it will be repeated exactly by Gil on page Seventy Four. Like father, like son!"
Panel One: The sign reads: "Long Live the Tyrant".
Panel Four: Boris appears to be right, the clank is looking for someone.
Panel One: Kolok notes: "There is a carving of a semi-naked woman holding a huge cornucopia on the wall over their heads. What shop are they in front of?"
Panel Four: Why is there a faucet seven feet off the ground???
Panel Five: The sign reads: "The". What shop are they in front of?
Panel One: Gil is apparently inhumanly fast... a construct perhaps?
Panel Three: The sign reads: "Beverages". What shop are they in front of?
Kolok notes: "The shop labelled beverages also shows a number of symbols, one of which is the lightning bolt seen on the top of the weathervane on page fifty-four (well, rotated ninety degrees). Another shows the castle without wings. Perhaps these are heraldry for the local families?"
No commentary.
Panel One: The sign reads: "Tripe W".
Panel Two: The Baron's grappling gun is reminiscent of the one used by Rorschach in The Watchmen.
Panels Three and Four: "I needed a distraction, not a sacrifice! That's what the Jagermonsters are for!" Great line.
Panel Three: The street sign reads: "171".
Panel Four: The bakery is "Hearts and Flours" and the sign on the door says: "No Honking". The doorway to the stairs reads: "Honk!" The sign on the wall reads: "Honk Lessons by" [I can't make out the rest]. The stairs are labeled: "You Can Do It". The Glass shop has a sign in the window: "No Honking".
Panel Two: The shop address is "31". The peddler is selling "Milk" and the shop around the corner is labeled: "Hogno". The rest of the sign is obscured.
Apparently both the Baron and Gil are in top-shape. They are easily keeping up with the clank.
Panel Three: Lower left corner has a snail with a shell three feet across. Waiter, just bring me a small escargot! :)
Panel Three: The fish shop's signs read: "Fish", "Fish", "Special Big Fish", "Trout 7/6" "Red 10/1" The slash is typical British pricing. Read it as shillings + pence. Twelve pence equals one shilling, twenty shillings equals one pound. Worker's wages were typically three or four pence a day in the seventeenth century. The cheese shop's signs read: "Cheese", "2/8" (on the egg shaped cheese), and "3/5" on the partial wheel. He has a caged mouse hanging from the ceiling. Adam and Lilith are in the lower right corner of the panel.
From Folenzo: Note that, if the shillings / pence reading is correct, then these signs use a different system than the one in issue 1, page 1. "2p", etc., is the notation used in Britain since decimalization of the currency in 1971 (100p = 1 pound). Either Prof. Foglio is in a different country, or sometime between the story and its telling, the system was changed.
From Kolok: Are we sure that the numbers with the slashes are shillings and pence? Knowing the world these characters live in, signs with prices just seem too normal. Besides, We clearly are NOT in England, (which everyone knows is underwater) so why would we be using their monetary system?
Panel Three: Lilith recognizes the steam engine as Ketter's Tractor and realizes that it's Agatha's creation. That puts her one step ahead of everybody else at this point in time. This will be the last time we see Adam and Lilith for quite some time to come.
The Baron Visits Clay Mechanical
Panel One: Agatha is washing the grease and oil off her hands that we saw on her nearly to the elbows at the end of the last issue. Presumably she's not using the container labeled "Acid" at her feet. She does not get it all. This will be significant.
Panel Three: The clank has fulfilled its function and found Moloch. Ironically, he's been in Clay Mechanical the whole time. If the machine had never left the building, it would have found him faster and the Baron would never have known about the clank.
Panel Two: The bomb is labeled: "C".
Panel Three: Moloch says its C-gas. What is C-gas? And how is a container with a round bottom standing upright?
Panel One: The handprint on Agatha's hip is gone. The bird nest is still over the doorsill, but the jug of moonshine is gone.
Panel Two and Three: The Baron assumes that Moloch, and not Agatha, is the new spark.
Panel One: The doorway is labeled: "Private".
Panel Three: C-gas is apparently knock-out gas. As an ex-soldier, Moloch would recognize it. What does C stand for?
No commentary.
Panels One thru Four: Apparently constructs smell funny to Jagermonsters 'like machines', while people with the spark, smell "goot". The debate rages, Does Agatha smell 'goot' because she is a spark or because she is a Heterodyne?
Panel Five: A Jagermonster is lifting a wagon with one hand. This is the first indication that they are inhumanly strong. The wagon is labeled: "Clay Mechanical".
Clank vs. Jagers!
Panel One: The bird nest is over the doorsill, but now the jug is a jar. Note: one of the Jagermonsters arguing over Agatha is blond. Gil has his hand to his head in a gesture of annoyance. Note the earlier comment on Page Fifty Five, Panel Three.
Panel One: Agatha's clank is moving to protect her. This is a clue for Gil, if he's smart enough to see it.
Panel Two: Is this Jagermonster, Zudoc?
No commentary.
Panel One: The blond Jagermonster (is there only one?) is assisting with the Clank Gun.
Panel Three: A Jagermonster has been blown clean through a wall. Either the Jagermonsters are extremely casual about death, or they're nearly invulnerable and hes not dead.
The blond Jagermonster destroys Agathas first major clank.
Panel Two: One of the Jagermonsters addresses the blond as Zudok, but we saw on Page Sixteen that Zudoc is dark-haired.
Panel Three: Gil is starting to realize that Agatha, not Morloch is the clank's master.
Panel Four: A Jagermonster addressed as Stosh thinks his nose is broken. If this is the one that went through the wall, then they virtually invulnerable, but not completely.
Panel Seven: Gil is starting to realize that Agatha is the new spark, not Moloch.
Bottom border: End of Prologue